Atheros Expands Networking Portfolio with  Industry’s Smallest Gigabit Ethernet PHY

Atheros’ Unparalleled Design Expertise Delivers The Market’s Most Competitive GbE PHY

SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 7, 2007 — Atheros Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHR), a leading developer of advanced wireless solutions, today launched the industry’s smallest, most cost competitive, single-port Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) PHY, the AR8021. Atheros is bringing the company’s unmatched analog and mixed signal design expertise to its second-generation GbE PHY to achieve significant technical advantages. The AR8021 is the world’s smallest GbE PHY device – offering a reduction of more than 60 percent in package size compared to the nearest competitive solution. This industry-leading GbE PHY footprint results in the lowest bill-of-materials (BOM) cost on the market, reducing price barriers to widespread adoption of GbE PHY technology in a wide range of computing and networking applications.    

Gigabit Ethernet
This latest addition to Atheros’ growing Ethernet portfolio, the AR8021 GbE PHY, serves a growing number of devices that benefit from Gigabit throughput including notebook and desktop PCs, wired and wireless routers, gateways, set-top boxes, printers, gaming platforms and network storage devices. These are markets in which Atheros is already strongly positioned with its industry-leading wireless LAN (WLAN) and Bluetooth® solutions. The GbE performance effectively breaks the networking bottleneck caused by the increasing bandwidth requirements associated with converged triple-play applications – data, voice, and video – throughout home and business environments.

The benefits of GbE networking are so evident that the number of PC platforms utilizing GbE technology now outnumbers those based on Fast Ethernet. The small and medium sized business (SMB) networking market is also dominated by GbE technology, with a wide array of GbE-enabled solutions.

“No other GbE PHY on the market can compare to the AR8021’s size and cost,” said Tony Hsu, director of product marketing for Atheros. “With its unique advantages, Atheros’ latest GbE PHY will be the clear choice of any PC, router, gaming device or consumer electronics manufacturer that can benefit by upgrading its end products with GbE performance.”

The AR8021 Offers Competitive Size, Power, Features and Price
The AR8021 provides the industry’s smallest footprint, resulting in a low cost, low power design, which also delivers a rich feature set.

• Industry-Leading Footprint: The AR8021 offers the industry’s smallest GbE footprint – more than 60 percent smaller in package size compared to the nearest competitive solution – in a 6mm x 6mm, 48-pin, QFN package.

• Low Power: The AR8021 GbE PHY is optimized for low power operation and consumes less than 650mW. The design also features low power modes that leverage internal DSP power-saving schemes.
   

• Robust Performance: The AR8021 GbE PHY is compliant with IEEE 802.3 specifications. The device features a 10/100/1000Mbps triple-speed transceiver with an RGMII interface. The AR8021’s digital signal processing (DSP) architecture delivers robust performance with excellent tolerance to NEXT, FEXT, echo and other environmental and electronic noise.
   

• Value-added Features:  Atheros’ easy-to-use Cable Diagnostic Test allows IT staff and service providers to easily check the health of the network cable connections for any open or short fault locations.

In addition to the AR8021 GbE PHY, Atheros has also enhanced its Ethernet portfolio with last week’s launch of the AR8216, a Fast Ethernet Switch. See related press release http://www.atheros.com/news/AR8216.html. The AR8021, like the AR8216, was developed by Atheros’ design center in Shanghai, China.

Product Availability

The AR8021 will begin sampling in late May to key customers. For more information, please visit: http://www.atheros.com/pt/ethernet_index.htm.

About Atheros Communications, Inc.

Atheros Communications is a leading developer of semiconductor system solutions for wireless and other network communications products. Atheros combines its wireless and networking systems expertise with high-performance radio frequency (RF), mixed signal and digital semiconductor design skills to provide highly integrated chipsets that are manufactured on low-cost, standard complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) processes. Atheros technology is being used by a broad base of leading customers, including personal computer, networking equipment and consumer device manufacturers. For more information, please visit www.atheros.com or send email to info@atheros.com.

###

Atheros and the Atheros logo are trademarks of Atheros Communications, Inc. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the sole property of their respective owners.

NOTE ON FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, including statements regarding the features, performance, competitiveness and benefits of the AR8021 solution, the expected sampling of this product in May, and the anticipated adoption of this product by PC, router, gaming device and consumer electronics manufacturers, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including, but not limited to, difficulties in development and manufacture of new products and upgraded products; unforeseen problems in the performance of new and enhanced products upon broad deployment; general economic conditions, the effects of competition and technological change, and other risks detailed in Atheros' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and in other reports filed with the SEC by Atheros from time to time. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. Atheros disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.